You might not finish this chapter

... that's the title of the second chapter of Crazy Love, by Francis Chan. I read this book last year and it keeps coming back to mind. There were important points that I didn't want to forget, that I wanted to think about more, put into practice more...

My plan is to address a chapter at a time in a blog post, and how it impacted me (and more importantly, what I'm doing about it). Here was the post for Chapter One: Stop Praying (?!?) from last month.

Why is it called "You might not finish this chapter" ? We really shouldn't have any delusions about our future - we are NOT in control of it. We can make plans, but the outcome - we could die tomorrow in a freak accident. Or, before finishing a chapter of a book. Jesus gave a very specific example of this in a parable of a rich man who died without warning in the midst of all his grand plans. 

In about fifty years (give or take a couple of decades) no one will remember you. Everyone you know will be dead. Certainly no one will care what job you had, what car you drove, what school you attended, or what clothes you wore.

What are we living our lives for? I had to ask myself that question the past week. I volunteered to help teach at our church's vacation bible school, which included a lot of prep work for a week's worth of lessons for two classes, putting together props and crafts and decorations, thinking of ways to make the lesson engaging and interactive and personal - and meaningful. At the same time, I had a looming deadline at work. I knew the two commitments were going to conflict and add stress. In the midst of this week I was questioning why I had taken on too much.

But at the end of the week (whew), I have no doubts. Everyday my four kids went with me to VBS. We were in some classes and activities together. The older girls helped me paint and hang decorations. We talked about everything going on. My daughter Dreamer wrote her memory verse on our front steps with sidewalk chalk. Because the theme was Creation, we talked about all the cool animals they'd learned about that God made, and how He made them special in so many ways.

"A thrill ride through God's creation"

Even more, I saw many other families volunteering together at church, working and playing together for a whole week, teenagers helping with all sorts of things from crafts to skits. Teenagers!! (Gives me hope!) Not to mention the kids who participated who maybe heard the gospel for the first time. (I love that our VBS leaders asked us from the very moment we committed to this plan to pray for the kids. I am glad this post has also reminded me to pray for them, now that it is over. That they would remember, and the seed planted would grow.)

These are things we should live our lives for. Not necessarily "churchy" things but things we do together, with friends and family, volunteering for a bigger effort than our own personal achievement, and doing something where God is the center, the reason for it all.

Sadly, many people die while living selfishly. Their funerals are filled up by individuals who stretch the truth in order to create a semblance of a meaningful life. Nobody would dare say an unkind word at the funeral; there is an unspoken obligation to come up with something nice to say about the person who died.... When we face the holy God, "nice" isn't what we will be concerned with, and it definitely isn't what He will be thinking about. Any compliments you received on earth with gone; all that will be left for you is truth.

1000 gifts: graduation party

Continuing my list of gifts, blessings that I write down to remember all the wonderful things that God gives me along life's journey (from Ann Voskamp's book and her blog, A Holy Experience
 
453. Visiting bookshelves
Whenever I visit a home of friends or family, one of the first things I'm drawn to is their bookshelves.  Recently I visited one of my old room-mates, Emily,  and it was so much fun to spend time with her and her husband and 18-month old little boy.  Her home was one of those wonderfully welcoming homes that you just immediately feel comfortable in. And I just loved her bookshelves! Full of classic literature and great Christian books, many I was familiar with and quite a few new ones - I wanted to borrow half of them!

454. Pictures on living room walls
After  the bookshelves, the next thing I love about visiting friends or family is the art or pictures that they pick to hang on their walls. Emily and her husband had a poster of one of the original Guttenberg bibles, which I just loved (I plan to order the same poster).  They also had a painting,  "The Bookworm" by Carl Spitzweg, which we immediately bonded over - both being lovers of books.

455.  Redneck horseshoes, shaving cream wars, party squirrel dance
We all drove down to Salina, Kansas for my husband's nephew's high school graduation. Almost the whole family was there, and my kids had a wonderful time playing with all their cousins (they practically lived on the trampoline). For the older crowd, they had set up a game of redneck horseshoes (with beer bottles  - a new experience for me.) The teenagers got into a shaving cream war, and everyone had to do the party squirrel dance whenever someone opened one of T.J.'s graduation cards which played a "Paaaaartttyyyy!" song and featured a dancing squirrel.

456.  Connections between cousins
When Blaze was a toddler, at family reunions her older cousin Dani always kept an eye on her and played with her. Now Dani has a toddler daughter, and Blaze - ten years old - was the one who loved chasing after Jaidyn and watching her for Dani. 

457. Theology of the First Law of Thermodynamics
During our graduation party weekend, Tyler shared his theology on the First Law of Thermodynamics. Energy can be changed from one form to another, but it cannot be created or destroyed. If you apply this law to the Creation account according to the Bible, then God must have used his own energy to create the universe and everything in it. What a wild thought!

458.  Mother's day book
Blaze is in 4th grade, and Dreamer is in 2nd grade, and their teachers always come up with wonderful Mother's Day projects for the kids to make. This year the booklet that Blaze made me included things like "The jobs my mother does.... reading helper when I am having troubles, lover of all her children, riding instructor when I am at a horse show" (great illustration of a riding arena, complete with jumps). 

"She loves.... chocolate and a nice hug, reading on her bed, writing a book on the computer and talking with lots of friends" (I love the illustration she put with this last one, two friends holding tea cups!) 

"Mom feels... happy when I read to my sisters.... tired when I am always talking...mad if a chore is not done." (quite the illustration of me shouting "get it done!") 

"She deserves... hugs and kisses when she comes home, a lovely hike in the mountains, and a camping trip with her family. I love my mom because she will give more than any mom on earth, and I am her grateful daughter."

459. Being a guest teacher in your kid's class
It took some courage, but I finally asked Blaze's teacher if I could take up one of her social study periods to review some Wyoming history with the kids using interactive maps, an on-line version of GIS (geographic information systems) that I use for work. I had so much fun leading the kids on a virtual tour of the neighborhood around their school to start with, then looking at a map of Laramie, then moving out to various historical spots around Wyoming. The kids loved getting to do different map-related things on the computer, such as measurements and finding features on aerial photos.

460. Teenagers pretending to be horses
Stars has some great friends, and one of them in particular I like because she also loves horses (we are all pretty much a horse-crazy family). One night when Kaitie was over visiting Stars, they actually stayed in the living room with us instead of hiding out in Stars' room. Stars wanted Kaitie to show us her horse impersonations. I can't quite describe her "Russian stallion" act (complete with Russian accent) but it was hilarious! She also did a rooster strut that gave me a bellyache from laughing so hard!

461. Scarf race
Dreamer wanted to do a flag race as one of the games at her birthday party (8 years old!). I looked up the rules for a flag race, but I ended up modifying it to a "scarf race" - the kids had a lot of fun (so did I).

462. When a friend asks "what is the Lord doing in your life?"
K. called up one morning to ask me this question. I told her how I had just finished studying 1 Peter, and how when you list all the verses about suffering from this book, it is both terrifying and also amazingly hopeful, even joyful! And how I just started 2 Peter, and over and over again it talks about "knowing God."  and what this really means. We also talked about "God's math" (how He provides ways for us to pay our bills when we know the money doesn't add up). And  homeschooling; K. will start homeschooling her second oldest, and I am still praying about starting homeschooling - right now I'm aiming to start after Blaze finishes 5th grade because otherwise she'll have to go to the junior high, which I think is way too early. And we talked about listing our gifts/blessings, as I've been doing for a couple years now, and K has just started doing it too.

463. Taking  captive every thought to obedience in Christ
A thoughtful quote from Jesus Calling, a devotional by Sarah Young. "Long after you have learned the discipline of holding your tongue, your thoughts defy your will and set themselves up against me. Man is the pinnacle of my creation, and the human mind is wondrously complex. I risked all by granting you freedom to think for yourself. This is godlike privilege, forever setting you apart from animals and robots. I made you in my image, precariously close to deity." Reminded me of how hard it is to live out 2 Corinthians 10:5 "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ"

The challenge of Crazy Love

Crazy Love, by Francis Chan, is probably the most challenging Christian book I've ever read.

Just take a look at some of the chapter headings and you'll see what I mean.

Chapter 1. Stop Praying

Chapter 2. You Might Not Finish This Chapter

Chapter 4. Profile of the Lukewarm (this was chapter was excruciating and wonderful at the same time)

Chapter 5: Serving Leftovers to a Holy God

Chapter 8: Profile of the Obsessed

Chapter 9: Who Really Lives this Way?

Here's how it starts: "This book is written for those who want more Jesus. ... it is for those who don't want to plateau, who would rather die before their convictions die." 

I don't want to continue to respond this way:

The God of the Universe - the creator of nitrogen and pine needles, galaxies and E-minor - loves with a radical, unconditional, self-sacrificing love. And what is our typical response? We go to church, sing songs, and try not to cuss.... Are you hungry for an authentic faith that addresses the problems of the world with tangible, even radical solutions? (from the back cover).

My plan is to address each chapter in a blog post, and how it impacted me (and more importantly, what I'm doing about it).

Chapter 1 - Stop Praying.

What if I told you to stop talking at God for a while, but instead to take a long, hard look at Him before you speak another word? Solomon warned us not to rush into God's presence with words. That's what fools do.

I know I need to take my eyes off myself more often, and put them on God instead. All morning I have had a particular problem weighing heavily on me. One of my kids needs discipline of some sort. She has failed in a bargain she made with us (her father and I). What to do? What to do? I have been worrying over it like a bone, talking to God about it, asking Him for His direction.

When I pray to God about my problems, I do feel the burden lifted - I give my problems (and other people's prayer requests) over to Him to carry, instead of carrying them, myself. But I think that's only half the equation.

What Chan is talking about is a whole shift from a me-centered, my-issues world to a God-centered world. Taking time to look at Him, listen to Him, consider what He has done, stand before Him in awe. I got a sense of that earlier this year when I wrote about my theme for the year, Seeking Him.

It may seem a hopeless endeavor, to gaze the invisible God. But Romans 1:20 tells that through creation, we see His invisible qualities and divine nature.

This chapter is all about the amazing things of God's creation that point us toward Him.

The beauty and complexity of nature awes me, like this iceberg set on fire by the sun.

On his website, http://www.crazylovebook.com, Chan challenges us to watch the video "Awe Factor". It is a stunning perspective of these verses, Psalm 19: 1-4

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the works of His hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech. Night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the end of the world.

We need frequent reminders that we are not the center of our universe.

Men are never duly touched and impressed with a conviction of their insignificance, until they have contrasted themselves with the majesty of God. - R.C. Sproul

Another quote:

What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us... Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God. For this reason the greatest question before the church is always God Himself, the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like. - A.W. Tozer

God hasn't spoken to me about the problem of what discipline to enact. But re-reading this chapter, and then writing about it, has shown me that I'm too focused on finding a solution right now. I need to step back, even stop praying, and just be silent before Him for a while. Put Him back in the center of my universe.

1000 gifts: best friend's birthday

Continuing my list of gifts, blessings that I write down to remember all the wonderful things that God gives me along life's journey (from Ann Voskamp's book and her blog, A Holy Experience).

This list of gifts is in honor of K.A. and her fortieth birthday, and over 15 years of friendship.

439.  Sharing books
Early on in our friendship we discovered we could both spend hours in a bookstore together - well, sort of together - K in the history section and me in fiction. For many years we have sent each other books for our birthdays, and borrowed books from each other's shelves; she's even given me two books she got signed for me by authors. Here's just a small sample...

440. Dresses, lace, beads and quilts
K used to volunteer at the Territorial Park with a friend, and she has a beautiful Victorian dress that she made herself. She also made me a dress, complete with a tatted lace collar. Nearly every time we sit down to talk or watch a movie together, she either has a tatting or a hardanger project in her hands. Here's a beautiful piece of hardanger she made me. 

She also does beading, and one of my favorite necklaces is one that she made for me. Oh, and she also quilts - I have one of those she made me, too.  I love that there is something made by K in almost every room of my house, and my only sorrow is I have absolutely no inclination for anything crafty to give her in return. But, I did make this to give her...

441. Verse collections 

The little booklet on the right is something I put together in 1997 of all my favorite verses, organized by categories to such as "Security", "Salvation", "Waiting on God",  verses for helping with "Loneliness", "Discouragement", "Worry" and "Witnessing." K says she still has this booklet, and recently she sent me a bookmark (on the left) with some of her favorite verses. She also reminded me - I'd completely forgotten this - that for one of her birthdays I gave her a collection of all the 4th verses from all the books in the New Testament, because her birthday is May 4.  


442. Theological differences 
One of the interesting things in the past couple years of our friendship has been the diverging path of our theologies. We've exchanged long e-mail discussions and exposition of verses as we take turns arguing our sides (creating a rainbow of different colored annotation). In the end we agree on the Gospel, that we are saved by grace and not by works, and have agreed to disagree on finer points of theology. I consider our differences in this area a blessing in many surprising ways.  

443. Four kids each 
 Oh how far we've come from our single days, wondering what the future would hold in store for us! She was my maid of honor, I was her matron of honor; I have four girls now, and she has three boys and a girl.
 
444. Bikers 
K's husband is a biker and one of several pastors at a biker church (which is where her birthday party was held). I love how one of their biker friends has a patch on the back of his leather biker jacket that says "these are my church clothes."  I love hearing all her stories about biker culture and lives changed by Jesus.

445.Oswald Chambers
A quote by Oswald Chambers K sent me in 2010: "It does require the supernatural grace of God to live twenty-four hours in every day as a saint, to go through drudgery as a disciple, to live an ordinary, unobserved, ignored existence as a disciple of Jesus. It is inbred in us that we have to do exceptional things for God; but we have not.  We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things."

446. The Princess Bride
We love almost all the same movies, and this one she used to be able to quote almost word for word, almost the entire movie. (Alas all I ever seem to remember is "My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die" and "I'm not a witch, I'm your wife!")

447. Sunsets
There's a long story behind K and why sunsets are so meaningful to her, but it can be summed up in this beautiful statement: "It was almost as if God spoke to me in the colors." -K



448. Shadow mission
There's a long story behind this one, too, but K shared with me how sometimes when God points you toward a purpose, a ministry, or a mission, there is often a shadow mission that you don't see at first that goes along with it. 

449. Teapots
The truest friend will always share a pot of tea with you. K has a collection of dozens of teapots and a selection of dozens more types of tea - so visiting her home is a teatime delight.

450. A map scrapbook
I turned 40 first, and K made me a scrapbook of 40 favorite things about me which made me cry when I read through it. Knowing how much I love maps, she had created and printed a series of Google maps showing the routes of all our road trips together, along with pictures: Estes Park and Zion Canyon and the Million Dollar highway up from Durango. The last map in the book was the route between her house in Colorado Springs and mine in Laramie.

451.  A-Z scrapbook
When K turned 40 this year, I made her a scrapbook too, 26 pages of memories - it wasn't hard to come up with something for each letter, because we've had so many experiences together.


452.  There is A Redeemer by Keith Green
We rarely sing this song anymore in church, but when we do, oh what a flood of memories it brings back. And oh, what praise it wells up inside me! 

There is a Redeemer,
Jesus, God's own Son,
Precious Lamb of God, Messiah,
Holy One,

Thank you oh my Father,
For giving us Your Son,
And leaving Your Spirit,
'Til the work on Earth is done.

Jesus my Redeemer,
Name above all names,
Precious Lamb of God, Messiah,
Hope for sinners slain.

Thank you oh my Father,
For giving us Your Son,
And leaving Your Spirit,
'Til the work on Earth is done.

When I stand in Glory,
I will see His face,
There I'll serve my King forever,
In that Holy Place.

Thank you oh my Father,
For giving us Your Son,
And leaving Your Spirit,
'Til the work on Earth is done.

1000 gifts: jokes, songs and spangles

Continuing my list of gifts, blessings that I write down to remember all the wonderful things that God gives me along life's journey (from Ann Voskamp's book and her blog, A Holy Experience).

428.  Grade school jokes
10 yr old Blaze had me cracking up when she brought these home: What is a surfer with no water? Board. What does the horse say when you pull it's tail? Hay! Why did the chicken cross the playground? To get to the other slide. 


429. Red Rose Tea
Every since I was a little girl, I remember my mother buying Red Rose Tea, a Canadian brand. It's still my favorite kind but for the longest time you couldn't get in Laramie. For many years Mom would send me boxes, and then we got the point where we could find it in Colorado and would always stop to buy a box or two while we were down there. Now I can buy it right at my local Wal-mart! Even better, the last box I opened I found they had included a small travel tin, which is perfect for carrying three teabags in your purse without them getting battered.  


430. A "tense" joke
My wonderful friend N.L. emailed this to me where I found it when I showed up to work on a Monday morning with the blahs.  Truly a great joke for a writer!

431. Boyfriend jeans
Stars went shopping with her mom and showed off all her purchases to me, including her new pair of "boyfriend jeans" - this is an actual type of girl's jeans (it even has a label). They are made to look like a girl borrowing and wearing her boyfriend's jeans - big and baggy, full of holes!  They are actually kind of cute and I really like that they are baggy - maybe they will start a new trend away from super tight jeans.


432. Understanding travelers
This year it was Dreamer's and Serious' turn to travel with me to Hilton Head to visit Mom & Dad for spring break. Unfortunately, our plane was delayed and we missed our connection, and had to stay overnight in Atlanta. Not fun! Though the airline paid for dinner and a hotel, everyone on the plane got sent to the same hotel, which meant a LOT of WAITING in LINES - first to get rescheduled for the next day's flight, then to get vouchers, then to get on a hotel shuttle, then to check in, and last of all going through security, AGAIN. But, the blessing with all of this was how kind everyone was, seeing that I was traveling with two small children. Twice, people motioned us to the front of the lines. Also wonderful was the shuttle driver for a different hotel who saw that after waiting a half hour for my shuttle, me and the girls would have to wait another half hour (at 9 at night) since the first one filled up. He offered to take us to our hotel, no charge (though I did tip him generously for his kindness!) 


433. Moonlight walk on the beach
The beach at Hilton Head was wonderful, as always. It's especially magical to take a stroll on the beach at night. The moon was too bright to see many stars, but it turned the ocean into silvery magic. Mom couldn't resist going swimming - she went right in her shirt and shorts.  Also, speaking of swimming, Dreamer and Serious spend every day in the pool (and waves). Dreamer is now able to dive down to the bottom of the pool to retrieve pennies, and can swim short distances. Serious can swim all over the place with water wings!


434. Crab races
The latter part of our Hilton Head visit was hard, because Dad fell and broke his knee and had to spend 5 days in the hospital, in a lot of pain. But I'm glad it happened while we were there, to help him and Mom. We spent a lot of time at the hospital, but on our last night Mom insisted on taking us out to the Crazy Crab, one of our favorite seafood restaurants. There is gigantic wall-size aquarium there that the kids adore, and out on the deck they were also holding hermit crab races, where you could pay a dollar and pick your own crab, put him on the "race track" (a large round table with a rim) and then win prizes if your crab happened to reach any one of the prize patches on the table. 

435. Finally seeing alligators
The kids always look forward to seeing alligators sunning on the banks (Blaze actually saw a mother alligator and four babies in March when she visited), but it was unsually warm this year that by April, all the alligators were keeping cool in the depths. Dreamer and Serious went the whole week without seeing nary a glimpse. But on our very last day, in fact as Mom was driving us to the airport to leave!! - they got to see two alligators on our way out.

436.  1950's music
Seventeen year old Stars had to show me the video of a modern re-mix of the old fifties' song, Run-around Sue. She says she loves fifties music, which makes me shake my head in wonder, because after the movie Dirty Dancing came out in 1987, when I was in high school, my friend M.C. and I got crazy about 50's music too (in fact,  I still have 20 or 30 small records of some of the songs we collected).  One of our favorites was Stand By Me, by Ben E. King, and Love is Strange, by Mickey and Sylvia (we used to sing take turns singing the Mickey parts and the Sylvia parts to each other!)


437. Spangles
Stars has a shirt covered in spangles. One night when she was wearing it, she sat down next to me on the sofa to show something on her cell-phone. The light from her phone reflected off the spangles on to her face - like she had a bunch of dancing, shimmery freckles. (might have to use that in one of my stories someday)


438.  Christ is Risen
We sang this song (by Matt Maher) at church Easter morning. Such worship!


Let no one caught in sin remain
Inside the lie of inward shame
We fix our eyes upon the cross
And run to him who showed great love
And bled for us
Freely you bled, for us

Christ is risen from the dead
Trampling over death by death
Come awake, come awake!
Come and rise up from the grave!

Christ is risen from the dead
We are one with him again
Come awake, come awake!
Come and rise up from the grave!

Beneath the weight of all our sin
You bow to none but heavens will
No scheme of hell, no scoffer's crown
No burden great can hold you down
In strength you reign
Forever let your church proclaim

Christ is risen from the dead
Trampling over death by death
Come awake, come awake!
Come and rise up from the grave

Christ is risen from the dead
We are one with him again
Come awake, come awake!
Come and rise up from the grave

Oh death! Where is your sting?
Oh hell! Where is your victory?
Oh Church! Come stand in the light!
The glory of God has defeated the night!

Oh death! Where is your sting?
Oh hell! Where is your victory?
Oh Church! Come stand in the light!
Our God is not dead, he's alive! he's alive!

Christ is risen from the dead
Trampling over death by death
Come awake, come awake!
Come and rise up from the grave
Christ is risen from the dead
We are one with him again
Come awake, come awake!
Come and rise up from the grave

Rise up from the grave...

Things I'm learning this spring

These are a few more things to add to my 1000 gifts list - things that God has been teaching me.

At the End of the Porch, by John Sharman (1918

425. Being free from SAD (seasonal affective disorder)
The picture above reminds me of how I just love to sit in a pool of light and soak it in. Sunlight is supposed to be crucial to keeping SAD at bay, but God is teaching me there is more to it than just getting enough sunshine and vitamin D. Exercise is helps a lot (thank you, my blogging friend Faith!), and medication may help as well, but in the end, God's mercy seems to have the final say.

Even before we got our early spring, I was marveling this winter that I wasn't getting any symptoms of SAD, even though last year had been my worst year - lasting from February into July. This year I started medication in January in preparation, but it made me really nauseous and head-achy. Even cutting back the doses didn't help. I stopped taking it, after a couple weeks, figuring if the depression got really bad I'd have to go back to the doctor to try something else. But the depression never came, not even a mild case of the blues.

Maybe a short stretch of medication is what prevented it; maybe it was my important discoveries last fall from Beth Moore's Breaking Free bible study: "tearing down lies and re-wallpapering with truth" and "hanging on tight to my Daddy's leg". But honestly, I haven't been putting these into practice very much - because I wasn't "SAD" enough to really need them.

So I think God has taught me that sometimes he just extends His sovereign mercy and gives us an undeserved gift.  He gave me a year without SAD.

I am so thankful.

426. Not wasting time on the internet
Stars (my stepdaughter's nickname) decided to delete her Facebook account because it was turning into "Wastebook" - she was wasting too much time on it and she wanted to have more to focus on training her horse and getting into shape. My online weakness lately has been Pinterest and Tumblr - all those pretty pictures! It's like having unlimited access to hundreds of art catalogs and magazines (without ads). But when Stars deleted her Facebook, I decided it was high time I deleted my two temptations, as well. I brag at times about not wasting time with TV shows, but the internet can be almost as bad.

I do still visit Pinterest even though I no longer have an account (which has helped me cut back). But the other thing I'm learning with this temptation to waste time looking at pretty things is how to "give them back to God" so they end up being a blessing instead of waste. All it takes is to slow down, to take the time to really look at a piece of art or beautiful photograph, instead of rushing right on to the next one.

Take as an example that picture above, "At the End of the Porch".  I saw it on Pinterest, but it was on a board with lots of other beautiful art. I was tempted to quickly save it and move on.

Instead I forced myself to stop and really look at the picture, and pick out the details. At a quick glance I never would have noticed the color of her dress, or what is in her hands, or the patterns of shadows. I thanked God for the details. I thought about how I love to sit in sunshine like that (with a book instead of a craft), and I thanked him for having more time these days to sit and relax (now that the twins are 5 years old!) and for an early spring that's giving me lots more sunshine than I usually get. I thanked him for the beauty all his light and shadows give us. Then eventually I move on to the next picture, and look for God in that picture too - even if its just thanking Him for giving us humans so many creative ways to express all the beauty he's given us. After a few more painting or photos, because I'm more God-centered and not as self-centered, it's much easier to say "okay, that's been enough time on Pinterest. Time to get back to work."

427. Transcending time
Related to not wasting time on the internet, I'm learning when I put God first then I find I have more time to accomplish productive things and still have extra time to enjoy reading or visiting blogs or Pinterest.

"These quiet moments with me transcend time" (from  Jesus Calling, by Sarah Young). Whatever time you invest with Him you get back, sometime multiplied. I love the idea of transcending time - I can't wait to see what time in eternity is like.

Another nugget of wisdom: "On the days when your plans are thwarted, be on the lookout for Me."  I thought that was an unusual perspective - we know that sometimes Satan tries to deceive, and I think he tries to get us to blame God for inconvenient or upsetting things that happen to us, but really, we could look at them as ways that God might be trying to get our attention. My theme this year is "seeking Him" but I am saddened by how many days go by when I do not think to seek Him at all. Maybe when my day doesn't go as planned, that's God's reminder that I need "to keep my mind stay'd on him" (Isaiah 23:6).

1000 gifts: an early spring

 Continuing my list of gifts, blessings that I write down to remember all the wonderful things that God gives me along life's journey (from Ann Voskamp's book and her blog, A Holy Experience).

I just love this painting by Michael Parkes.

410. Early spring
It's officially spring now (as of March 21) but usually at our high altitude, 7200 ft, March still means winter. Not this year! Our spring break last week was in the high 60 degrees all week and the kids played outside everyday. Our grass is even starting to green up! (our grass didn't green up until mid-May last year). Of course, the bad weather might very well return in April, but in the meantime we are all wearing short sleeves.(And not feeling a bit jealous of Blaze, my 10 year old daughter spending Spring Break in Hilton Head, SC. My mom treated her to plane tickets to come visit them).

411. Restoring a working relationship
An issue with co-worker has been resolved after many months of uncertainty. I prayed about it a lot and finally worked up the courage to go meet with him and ask if there was anything I could do to restore a good working relationship. He explained his frustrations with how things had gone on our project and then, he even had some encouraging words for me, things he thought I had done well. So thankful!


412.  Donating hair to Locks of Love
Stars had her hair cut and donated, I'm not sure where she got the idea, but it really surprised me -and impressed me. She's always had really long, thick, beautiful hair, and the thought of getting anything more than a trim used to horrify her. Of course her short  bob is cute, too and surprisingly, makes her look older. Now Blaze is trying to grow up her hair to donate it, too.

413. War Horse, Black Beauty and the Black Stallion
In the fourth grade class at school  they've been reading War Horse and my daughter Blaze (nickname) loved the story. But one day she came home from school bawling because one of the horses in the story had been killed. She cried on and off that whole evening, and talked frequently about it for many days after that. I remember being similarly upset with Ginger's death in Black Beauty, when I was about her age. I have a feeling even though I'm in my 40s, War Horse would still make me cry (which is why we decided to wait until the movie comes out on DVD - to keep the sobbing at home and not at the theater).  When she finished reading War Horse, Blaze started the Black Stallion series, another favorite of mine as a child - and fortunately not so heart-wrenching. I love that Blaze is a horse-story-lover like I am - it's also motivated to ride her own horse, Spring, a lot more.


414. Learning not to whine
Speaking of Blaze, earlier this winter she just about had me and B. at our wit's end with her tendency to whine. She whined about everything! I never tolerated it (giving her more chores to do or taking away her allowance or playdates) but nothing seemed to help: she kept right on whining. Then I finally started praying about it. What a difference! More and more I am amazed at the power of prayer. I still catch her whining occasionally, but it's a lot less, and a quick reminder from us usually curbs it right away.

415. Who can snap fingers loudest?
All four daughters got into a "snapping" competition to see who could snap their fingers the loudest. The littlest one, Starlet, turned out the winner! I wish I could have captured on camera her proud flourish every time she snapped her fingers. 


416. Learning to write I Love You
Seven-year-old Dreamer helped the 5 yr old twins write the entire alphabet and even write "love you". Getting through all those letters took a LONG time, and I really admired their patience.


417. Lucid dreams and ideas
When I was younger I used to have these amazing lucid dreams (dreams where you are still partially awake) about story ideas - in fact, these dreams formed the basis three novels I've written. I haven't had a lucid dream in years, though - until recently. Upon waking I quickly wrote down all my ideas. So exciting - I don't get new "big" ideas very often. Unfortunately, I few days later when I reading a writing blog I saw another author had had a similar idea (soon to be published) but I still think, with a bit of twist, that my latest idea could still be original enough.

418. Memory tricks
Dreamer's teacher must be teaching the second grade some tricks to remember their spelling words, because one night when Carey was writing her spelling words, she said, "This is how I remember how to spell 'owl.' The bullies make you go 'ow' and after that comes a straight worm." (lowercase l). Loved it!

419. The truth about ghosts
We watched the movie "Ghost" (an old favorite from my teen years with Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore) and it was the girls' first time seeing it. I was a little worried about it scaring them, but all their questions about ghosts and demons was a great opportunity to get them thinking about heaven and hell and reminding them of the assurance they can have about going to heaven - believing that Jesus died for them to pay the penalty of sin.

420. Winter gardens
We are having an early spring (yay!) but a few weeks ago when we still had snow, I found it somewhat cheering to walk by a "winter garden" on my walk to work every morning. The University has lots of rock gardens, with berry bushes and ornamental grasses, which still look lovely even in the winter, especially with a fairy-dusting of snow.

421. School Science Night
All four girls had a blast on science night (and I did too, much to my surprise), turning pennies "silver", floating paperclips, making "elephant" toothpaste, and creating color patterns in trays of milk with food coloring and various hydrophobic materials such as dish-soap. Here's a video showing more details about this fun experiment with milk.

422. Getting a "fev" instead of a fever
Dreamer came home from school one day and told me she had felt a little sick at school so she went to see the nurse. The nurse said she had a "fev" which is a very small fever that you don't have to worry about it. What a creative nurse!

423. Kids in gorilla suits
Blaze and Dreamer really, REALLY wanted me to come to their school performance. I really, REALLY didn't want to go, because you have to sit through all SIX grades (and kindergarten) while they do their songs and skits. I managed to get through it by texting jokes back and forth with my friend M.M. - and being amused by a few of the skits with kids in gorilla suits chasing other kids around. If all else fails to amuse an audience, a gorilla suit can save the day!

424. Dancing the Cotton Eye Joe
Getting the kids to dance this at a school performance also helps! This is the theme dance for our University's  Wyoming Cowboys and you have a fair chance of seeing it at just about any get-together in Laramie. Here's a video of two adults dancing Cotton Eye Joe which was the best example I could find on YouTube, but really when you get a bunch of Wyoming kids doing it its even better!